Only Human
by The cursed child
Summary: Chris snaps when Piper banishes him from the Halliwell manor for the second time in his life, bringing the sisters and Leo to The Event so they can be the ones hurting for a change.


**A/N And I'm back to the Charmed-Fandom thanks to Chrishalliwell11, who send me an interesting prompt that I couldn't wait to explore. The spell is from Season 5, Cat House.**

**Prompt; Song: Human, Artist: Christina Perri, Character/Timeline: Chris/Mid-season 6.**

"I will get my son back, and when I do, I don't want to see you anymore." Piper's words are harsh, bounce around in his mind like an echo, feel like knives in his heart. His eyes water with unshed tears.

He wants to apologize. Take back what he said, what he did, but it's been enough. He's only human.

Chris has dealt with the distrust, the jibes, the indifference. He's ignored the way they look at him, talk behind his back. He's kept his secrets, hunted through the night. He hasn't slept, hasn't eaten much either, doesn't have the money or the time.

He's pretended it doesn't bother him, laughs at the jokes that are so close to home that they hurt. He plays the part, doesn't use the vast array of powers at his disposal because they need him to be a Whitelighter, the best one around, even though they're his first charges and he is failing miserably.

He's worked alone in a race against the clock, knowing that he can do this, that he doesn't have a choice. Either he succeeds, or the darkness that is his future will be back. The weight of the world is heavy on his slumped shoulders.

With Piper's words, he's lost access to the house, the book, the Charmed Ones and Wyatt. He's got nothing left to lose. He's the only one that can get Wyatt back anyway. He snaps.

He takes a look at the Charmed Ones and his father, standing united against him, and speaks the words;

"Let the truth be told, let my life unfold, so they can relive my memories, and we stop being enemies."

A contingency plan he created a long time ago as a last resort, not one to use in anger as he is doing now.

Chris watches them disappear and focuses on his most recent memory of the Evil Wyatt before orbing to the Underworld, where his baby brother is on his way to ultimate darkness.

The group of four appears by the door to the attic, the hallway empty. The telltale buzz of a portal announces the arrival of Chris and Bianca, and they hear Chris' familiar voice. "Hello, Wyatt." Their Whitelighter sounds calm and collected, like he is not powerless and outnumbered against the most evil being of the planet.

"This is the spell I cast at counseling," Piper whispers, "We have to get out of here before we change something." What must be Wyatt's voice replies to Chris and the sheer darkness leaking from the room makes the good witches and the Elder shiver.

"I don't think we can change the future if we are already in it." Leo's response is just as quiet as his wife's whisper. Phoebe peers through the keyhole and rears back in shock, crashing into an equally curious Paige.

"It really is Wyatt," the middle sister says in shock, her grown-up nephew clear in her mind's eye.

"We can't go in," Leo states, "I'm not sure how much damage we can do, but they can hurt us and their past." The father isn't realizing that he just assumed his son capable of hurting his parents and aunts.

The four slump against the walls, listening in horror as Chris is thrown across the room and Bianca saves his life by sacrificing her own, their goodbye audible even from their position. Phoebe has tears streaming down her face, Bianca's pain her own through magical empathy, the males' feelings hidden by a barrier.

Meanwhile, the Chris in the past takes care of the demons and takes Wyatt back, more or less. He can reverse the damage, which is good, but doesn't dare to come close to Wyatt in case his brother raises his shield. "Orb to Darryl, okay, Wyatt?" he orders, and the child actually does it, disappearing into a cloud of white lights. It's the first time in his life that Wyatt has listened to his little brother.

Chris takes a look around the cave before he closes his eyes, focusing on his spell and delivering himself to his family. He appears where they did, just in time to hear Wyatt's energy ball crash into the wall, where he and the portal used to be.

"Chris!" they hiss in unison, surprise and anger clear on their features.

He interrupts the upcoming lecture with experienced precision. "Wyatt is safe with Darryl, you can't change the future when you're already in it, and yes; this is what happened when Bianca took me."

The pressure of the darkness dissipates, though a sense of it continues to linger in the museum. Wyatt is gone. "Follow me," Chris orders, surprised when they follow him, half in shock.

He leads them down a floor, the Halliwell Manor devoid of life, not even important enough to be guarded during closing time, the spells on it preventing entry anyway. He stops on top of the staircase, letting them take a look at what home has turned into.

The group doesn't seem to have the words, stumped by the story of their cut-off lives displayed in a shrine of Wyatt's search power. The pictures of their family have been removed in favor of propaganda posters, the evil Halliwell with his arms crossed, words like 'power' and 'freedom' just above his head. Piper even misses those at first, hypnotized by her son's baby blue eyes staring straight through her.

"Don't speak, don't be seen," he warns them, before he switches to the worst memory he has.

The manor changes around them in the blink of an eye, back to something similar that they have in their own timeline, but fifteen years more modern. Chris scans the pictures for his own face and doesn't find one.

Wyatt, fifteen years old, stands at the bottom of the stairs, facing a teenage Chris, just a year younger. "You're not supposed to be here," the oldest scolds, a fireball materializing in his hand. The demonic power, because while Wyatt is many things, he isn't a firestarter, makes Paige gasp and Leo clench his hands into fists.

"Just treat me like I'm another demon disturbing you, than. Or, seeing as you've switched sides, a good witch." Chris had been banished from the manor, is sleeping at his grandpa's apartment because his family is sick of his lies. He has tried telling them what Wyatt's been up to, but as always, they can't see past his older brother's pretty face.

"No problem," Wyatt says with a smirk, releasing his magic in Chris' direction. If he dies from it, the Twice-Blessed can easily explain that a demon came by the house and surprised them. He has nothing to lose.

"Fireball," a girl says from the sunroom, where she had been hiding. The ball deviates from its path and smashes into the grandfather clock. The child is around ten, her brown locks framing her face as she comes into view, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Melinda," Piper and Leo breathe, and Chris resists the urge to slam his head into the railing. They recognize this girl at first sight, know his sister's name and instantly love her. Chris has been around them for months, and they hate him, banished him from his own home for the second time, in spitre of all the clues he's been forced to give them. His inferiority complex grows quietly while the Halliwells stare in awe at the girl.

"You weren't meant to see that," Wyatt sighs, regret in his voice, though Chris knows he doesn't feel any. This was the moment his brother's quiet take-over became public, he couldn't keep her quiet, because Chris might be a bad little brother, but he's better than Wyatt ever was at protecting his little sister.

Another fireball forms, this one going for the girl, and it stops mid-air. Melinda steps out of its path.

"Wyatt?" Piper calls from the doorway, shock written in every feature. The sisters upstairs watch the future Piper step over her fallen groceries, which she dropped to freeze the room and safe her daughter from her son.

Wyatt's next sigh is exasperated, his eyes closing in disappointment. His stretched out arm falls to his side, and Excalibur appears in his grip, gleaming in the light that sneaks in through the open front door.

"Chris was right," the Piper states brokenly from her place by the door, her gaze locked on her oldest son. The frozen fireball comes back to life, moving past Melinda and into the windows at the back. Nobody bothers to watch it.

"Always was," Wyatt admits, fearlessly taking his eyes of his mother and finding Chris. His brother is the only threat in the room, his mother will never hurt him, and Melinda is weak compared to her siblings, only two powers at her disposal, one of them hovering.

"They know now, Wyatt, let us help. Please," Chris begs, "It doesn't have to be like this."

Wyatt grins, so much power thrumming in his veins that the others have trouble staying upright against the force of it. Melinda falls. "Oh, no, Chris, it really does." Excalibur leaves his hand and goes straight for Piper, who doesn't get a chance to react.

Muffled gasps come from behind the adult Chris, who watches silently as his mother dies instantly, no tears left to cry over it. The teenager doesn't have that control yet. "No!" he screams, almost running for his mom, but hindered by Wyatt's expression. Just in time, he turns to Melinda and envelopes her in his arms, his brother's power crashing into his unprotected back.

For the first time, Chris can see The Event from an outsider perspective, and notices the faint shimmering of a blue shield on his back, one he must've conjured subconsciously. Another power he apparently shares with his brother, though he's never known it, and as always, is weaker.

Miraculously, he is not dead, though he can barely breathe and his whole body burns. "C'mon, Mel, orb. You can do it." The girl beneath him is staring at her mother's body down the hall. "Focus, Mel, get to Paige. Please," He gets away from her in the knowledge that his sister doesn't have the power to get them both out. He rolls onto his back and regrets it immediately, magical burns colliding with the hardwood floor.

Melinda gets away, and Chris has succeeded, the world will know about Wyatt, but at too great a cost. Piper's body lies in the manor, the sword still in her chest. His brother is beyond saving, too far gone, no going back. Chris is now here to kill him.

Furious, Chris rises to his knees, Wyatt watching curiously as his brother stands up when he should be very dead. His plan has failed, his secret out in the open, travelling through the magical community quicker than he can even imagine.

He'd never thought his brother was this strong, not when Chris has always gone unnoticed, orbing his only active power, the rest hidden from his family because he hasn't trusted Wyatt not to take advantage in years.

Bargaining is first on his list. "You could join me, Chris, together we'll be unstoppable. Let go of Good and Evil and focus on what you can do, what we can accomplish. Magic out in the open, no more hiding."

His little brother isn't even considering the offer. Chris stands, tall and proud, still smaller than Wyatt but huge when his magic lashes out in waves, crashing into the blond who has trouble countering it. This is not a battle of powers, this is a battle of magical reserves, the biggest and the strongest will win. There is no doubt in either mind that Wyatt will be winning, as Chris can already feel his magic running out, death growing nearer.

Revenge is second on Wyatt's list. He has Chris backing up already. His brother will trip over their mom's body if he takes another step. The boy falls to his knees, collapsing under the onslaught of the Twice-Blessed.

He breathes through the pain and turns his head, Piper's face looking back, her eyes open but no light in them. He can't watch it for a second longer, switches his gaze to the sword and reaches for it. Wyatt can't see him doing it, which is the only thing that saves him.

Excalibur doesn't listen to him completely, but as the Chosen One's brother, he has some leverage with the weapon. With his physical strength and a burst of telekinesis he throws the sword to its owner, hits Wyatt in the stomach.

He doesn't stay to watch, uses the last of his reserves to get away, get to Paige and Melinda.

Wyatt shimmers away, likely to look for a healer.

Chris runs downstairs, to his mom's body, wanting to look at the woman who at least loved him once, trying to remember that the woman descending is not his mom. His Piper died knowing the truth, might have loved him a little bit more than Wyatt for just a second in her whole life.

Not even at the bottom of the steps, he stops. He lost his temper, brought his family to a future that isn't going to happen, and showed them something that they will never forget. Even a decade later, he still has nightmares, haunted by The Event in a way that other tragedies haven't.

He subjected them to that, and the first traces of regret bleed through his pain and hurt an disappointment. He brings them back home.

They are in the sitting room, and Piper is the first to collapse, her knees giving out. Her sisters aren't far behind her, Leo is crying. Chris stands to the side, not ready to comfort them when they've done nothing but hurt him. Glad that even now, his identity is still safe.

He's waiting for the questions, waiting for the consequences he has to accept.

Like he has to accept that he is only human, after all.


End file.
